Bud, Not Buddy

One 2011 Caudill nominee to go and not quite halfway done with it. I'm going to take you back ten years instead. To an adult like myself and some of you, ten years is not a very long time, but considering children, it opens up an opportunity to share some books that they may have never experienced before. In 2000, I was Corporate Librarian and had very little to do with children's literature. In fact, I wasn't even a mother yet, so I hadn't invested any of my time in children's books since I had graduated from Library School in 1994 where I had "majored," as it were, in children's literature. I am so glad I was able to go back and catch up!

The Newbery Medal winner AND Coretta Scott King Author Award winner was Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. It was his second novel and it was the first and only book to this day to win both of these awards. I would like to share a quote from the author. "To me the highest accolade comes when a young reader tells me, ‘I really liked your book.’ The young seem to be able to say ‘really’ with a clarity, a faith, and an honesty that we as adults have long forgotten. That is why I write." I have been trying to say this myself for years, but have yet to find that eloquence.

I am relatively certain, coming from the best Library School in the world, that I had read quality literature written by an African American before. Unfortunately, I must say that it obviously wasn't memorable. It was with a certain trepidation that I "made" myself check Bud, Not Buddy out. One reason I love children's chapter books so much is that I readily and easily identify with the characters. I guess I'm a child at heart. But I really didn't expect to identify with a young African American character, and especially NOT a boy! Was I really that naive?

Bud, Not Buddy is a story about about a ten-year-old orphan. Since his mother died, he has been passed from shelter to foster home, finally ending up with the worse-than-nasty Amoses who lock him in the shed with the hornets. The only clue Bud has about the identity of his father, is a jazz band flyer that his mother had once gotten upset about. So Bud believes that Herman E. Calloway, jazz musician and club owner, might be his father. On this flimsy piece of information, Bud decides to run away and find his way to Grand Rapids, Michigan during the stressful times of the Depression era.

What I found most amazing was the amount of humor young Bud provided for the reader despite desperate circumstances. Sometimes it is the comic relief that gets us through the roughest times. For instance, Bud has "Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself." Rule Number 3 states that “if you got to tell a lie, make sure it’s simple and easy to remember." Rule Number 39 is “The older you get, the worse something has to be to make you cry.” How does a ten-year-old know this? One thing I've found out about books by Curtis, be prepared to laugh out loud.

When Bud finally finds the man he believes to be his father, he is disappointed to find a grumpy, bitter old man. But Bud finds a special home among the other musicians and employees of the club. Bud is given his own job. He cleans the floors, sleeps with the instruments to guard them and travels with the band when they go on. His imagination makes every task enjoyable. While mopping the floor, he is actually swabbing the deck of the ship just like in the book his mother read to him, 20,000 Leaks Under the Sea. Bud may not find his father, but he will discover the truth.

Bud Not Buddy is a book that was written by an African American who was disappointed by the lack of books that were written for a boy like himself. I am so glad that it was recommended so widely to me. It is a winner when recommending books to reluctant young African American boys. But what I have found is that a well-written book, regardless of the ethnicity of the author, will be enjoyed by many across all boundaries. It is a powerful writer who can make a white, adult female, live the life of a young, orphaned African American boy for the period of 19 chapters!